Nick and Norah’s New York All-Nighter

Michael Cera is a Canadian actor on the rise after landing roles on “Arrested Development” as George-Michael Bluth, as Evan, the lead in “Superbad” and as Paulie Bleeker in Jason Reitman’s Academy Award-nominated “Juno.” Kat Dennings has played Catherine Keener’s daughter, Marla, in “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and Susan Gardner in “Charlie Bartlett.” Together Cera and Dennings star in “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” Peter Sollett’s film adaptation of Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s novel of the same title. Cera and Dennings play Nick and Norah in a plot that throws the two into a late-night chase throughout New York City trying to track down a secret show featuring their favorite band.

San Francisco Foghorn: Do you two feel that any of your personal tastes in music found their way into the movie at all?
Kat Dennings: I don’t think we had anything to do with that.
Michael Cera: Not me, I wasn’t too aware of really any people on the soundtrack except for Mark Mothersbaugh, Vampire Weekend and Bishop Allen. Yeah, it was all [director] Pete [Sollett].
KD: Definitely.
MC: Yeah, and maybe they had influences from the music supervisor or something.
KD: Oh yeah, we never mentioned that person.
MC: No.
KD: Have we met her/him?
MC: I…don’t think so.
KD: I don’t think so. Oopsies! Too late now.

As “Nick and Norah” features an almost entirely nighttime setting throughout New York City’s clubs and venues, the cast and crew had to reverse their sleep schedules for filming.

MC: We were so tired because we had just gone from night shoots to day shoots, so we got like no sleep for…some reason.
KD: Well, for Thanksgiving.
MC: Because they wanted the crew to be on a regular schedule so they could enjoy their Thanksgiving.
KD: It was just like a day before the weekend.
MC: Yeah, it was just like you have a stomachache.
KD: I don’t think we slept at all.
MC: You know that feeling you get from being awake for way too long? You’re just not thinking clearly.
KD: Bumping into stuff. Feeling like I was going to throw up.
MC: My body was shutting down.
KD: Sure, it was great. We were all nauseous together.
MC: It was fun.
SFF: So do you feel that the flip schedule brought everyone a little closer?
MC: Yeah, everyone was in the same boat. The crew and everyone.

SFF: Were there any regular activities that the cast and crew would do together?
KD: Tiger Woods maybe?
MC: Yeah we played PS3 in the trailer, you know, sometimes got food late at night. I seem to remember hanging out after shooting with Jonny [Jonathan B.Wright] a lot getting soup. There’s a lot of 24-hour places. Yeah, there’s a lot of great stuff in New York, you know, that’s like 24 hours that you can do at four in the morning.

SFF: What other professions have either of you considered other than acting? Or, if you weren’t acting now, what would you be doing?
MC: Um…I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.
KD: I’d be a geologist.
SFF: Why?
KD: Why? I love rocks and minerals and like…tectonic plates. I just do. It sets me [apart]. I don’t know why, but I think it would be impractical at this juncture to switch gears like that. You know, but I actually have an extensive mineral collection. It’s really embarrassing. I spend a lot of money on minerals. I don’t buy clothes. I buy rocks.
SFF: Sounds like a pretty good substitute.
KD: I’d say so. They never go out of style.
KD: I don’t have a car, I have rocks.

Michael Cera and Kat Dennings star in the film “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” which is in theaters now.